This invention relates to a mobile livestock feeder that has a longer life than the current livestock feeders and is adapted to reduce shipping costs. The invention uses removable end walls and folding side walls to decrease the height of the livestock feeder to allow more livestock feeders to be shipped in a conventional truck-trailer. The invention also uses a removable and replaceable bed which increases the life of the livestock feeder.
Livestock feeders may be used to efficiently dispense green feed, round bales, chopped hay, silage/haylage and other rations. For example, round hay bales may be placed inside a livestock feeder, a tractor may be hooked onto the feeder and rolled into the fields, then cattle can feed through the side frames.
A typical livestock feeder is rectangular in shape, has a solid fixed bed, two side rails and two end rails. The mobile feeders may be supported by a single axle at one end and have a steerable axle assembly at the other for hooking onto a tractor or other prime mover.
The side and end rails of conventional feeders are fixed to the bed, such as by welding. The rails may be round bars, spaced to allow livestock to insert their neck and head for feeding. The bars may be vertical and/or slanted and spaced to minimize feed loss from livestock pulling the feed out of the feeder.
Conventional livestock feeders have end and side rails fixed to the bed frame. The feeders are typically at least about four feet in height from the ground to the top of the rails, therefore a truck-trailer is not able to ship very many feeders at once, due to the height of stacked feeders. Since few feeders are shipped in a single load, the shipping cost per feeder is fairly high, adding to the consumer's overall cost of the livestock feeder. (There is no prior art livestock feeder capable of being reduced in size for shipping purposes, such as by temporarily removing or folding the rails.)
The bed of the typical livestock feeder is made of metal and may be painted. This metal may form a flat bed or may be angled from the middle toward the side rails to facilitate feeding and reduce feed waste. Once this bed has rusted or become worn from the weather and/or the feed additives, the livestock feeder is no longer useful. The typical livestock feeder has an expected life of about five years.
The present invention overcomes these and other disadvantages in a manner not revealed in the known prior art.
Applicants are aware of U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,663 and the sales brochure submitted herewith, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.